[NBLUG/talk] Videoconferencing?

Lincoln Peters sampln at sbcglobal.net
Sat Jul 2 09:17:56 PDT 2005


I need to set up a computer running Debian/sarge to do online
videoconferencing with another computer.  I'm not yet sure what software
I'll be dealing with on the other end, but I can be reasonably sure that
if I can't get the guy on the other end to switch to Linux (he's
currently a Windows XP user), and if there is not a reliable open-source
videoconferencing solution for Windows, I'll need to be able to talk to
MS NetMeeting (or maybe Apple iChat AV, though I doubt it).  Although I
must admit that I'm not familiar with any of the videoconferencing
software that is now available for Windows (I've used Linux and MacOS X
exclusively for years now).

Any videoconference I run will take place over the Internet (not a LAN),
and my connection is 768Kbps DSL.  I have no way at this time to know
what kind of connection will be on the other end, except that the other
guy will (hopefully) try to ensure that it's some kind of broadband.
Thus, I'd look for a solution that will work well on a 128Kbps
connection, and if worst comes to worst, I'll go to an audio-only
solution (I won't even TRY to stream live video over dial-up).

I *am* reasonably sure that both systems will offer at least a 1GHz CPU
and 512MB of RAM, so I've got some room to deal with CPU-intensive (or
RAM-intensive) audio/video codecs, as long as they'll work with my
software.

My actual requirements are pretty simple; I need high enough audio
quality that I can understand someone speaking on the other end, and the
video quality is actually not that important as long as it works (a
320x240 image should suffice).

Thus, my questions for anyone familiar with this kind of stuff are:

1. What software would you recommend for Linux videoconferencing?  Right
now I'm leaning towards GnomeMeeting, since it is the only
videoconferencing program I can find in the "apt" repository.

2. What hardware (cameras, microphones) would you recommend?  I'll need
at least one omnidirectional microphone (to place in the middle of a
conference table) and one personal microphone (preferably that would
clip onto a shirt).

3. Any caveats I should know about that I haven't taken into account?
My utmost concern in this project is reliability; the last thing I want
is for either of us to have to restart the software (let alone the
computer) in the middle of a videoconference!


By the way, I might be able to exert some influence over what the
videoconferencing rig looks like on the other end (if I'm lucky, I might
even get the other guy to attend this month's InstallFest), if I know
what to do within the next two weeks.

---
Lincoln Peters
<sampln at sbcglobal.net>

Immature artists imitate, mature artists steal.
		-- Lionel Trilling




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